Almost 100 fewer students have enrolled in virtual learning for the spring semester than during the fall in the Watson Chapel School District.
Kristy Sanders, the district's K-12 curriculum director, said the district has tried hard to bring those who did not perform well virtually back to their respective campuses.
"Some of the parents, they take their kid's word for it -- 'Yeah, I'm logging on. I'm doing my work,' – when they're really not," Sanders said. "Then you have students who are turning in the assignments, but they won't sit or log in to the Zoom session when the teacher is actually giving them instruction, so the assignments may or may not be read, like they skipped something."
Of the 888 who enrolled for online classes this semester, 364 are in grades kindergarten through six, and 524 are junior and senior high school students. Grades nine and 12 have the most enrolled virtually with 101 and 103 students respectively, while kindergarten has the fewest with 23.
The virtual enrollment during the fall semester was 980.
Sanders said faculty members kept track at the end of each grading period of those who made failing grades and asked those to come back to class. She reached out to their parents and guardians in hopes of convincing them their children would be safe on campus during the coronavirus pandemic and their academic performance would improve.
"If the parents had an underlying condition, no, they're not going to bring their kids back and we're not going to try to force them," Sanders said. "But if they could send them back and they saw their kids were failing, a lot of them brought them back. The other issue we run into is quarantines. There's a lot of community spread, so that's how [covid-19 is] getting into the schools a little more. You just kind of have to be cautious about everything."
The district took a survey every three weeks of virtual students and their parents about their learning experiences. The results were broken down by campus and given to each principal so they could address concerns.
"The results became more and more positive as surveys went out," Sanders said.
In other district news:
• Sanders confirmed WCSD employees, including substitute teachers, will be offered covid-19 shots beginning Friday, three days before Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced all K-12 faculty members in Arkansas would be eligible for the vaccinations. Doctor's Orders Pharmacy is offering the shots.
White Hall School District Superintendent Doug Dorris said employees in his district who want the shots would begin receiving them today.
• Watson Chapel Superintendent Jerry Guess estimated the district would receive $2.8 million in federal stimulus funds. Although he said WCSD is awaiting further guidance from the Arkansas Department of Education on how to utilize the funds, Sanders said she hopes the money could be used toward helping students catch up academically.
"A lot of kids, due to no fault of their own or their parents, just didn't get the type of learning we wish they would have gotten this year," Sanders said. Some of her ideas include enrichment classes on Saturdays and during the summer.
• Sanders told school board members the district has brought back its Word of the Week program. The goal is to help students understand the concept of each word through classroom use. The word of this week is "contrast."